Into every generation a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world. A chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number.

She is the Slayer.

20 years ago, those words introduced us to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a TV show and heroine that spent the next seven years defying expectations of genre and gender. And, inspiring a whole lot of us do-gooder crimefighters over here at M+R.

In her never-ending battle against demons, Buffy and her friends taught us how to be strong in the face of an unyielding evil. How to fight against institutions put in place to define and control us. How to defy so-called prophecy.

Umm, is it us or do these sound like a couple of lessons that could come in realllll handy about now—ever since, in Buffy parlance, we elected the Big Bad.

So, what would Buffy do when you find yourself waking up each morning, seeing another executive order and being like welp?

1. Fight.

2. Stick to your principles.

3. Fight some more.

4. Don’t hold back.

5. Take care of yourself in between slaying.

6. Lean on your friends.

7. Be their worst enemy.

8. Call. them. out.

9. Use all the tools you got.

10. Keep fighting.

11. PREACH.

There is only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil, and that’s us, dear reader. SO COME ON. BRING IT 2017.

P.S. All of us at M+R love fighting demons and Big Bad Presidents a lot.